MUMBAI: The city economic offences wing (EOW), probing the role of a few Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) officials and directors of Omkar Developers in a Rs 415-crore cheating case, found several irregularities in sanctioning of the project and allotment of flats. EOW officials said there is evidence against 14 people who never lived in slums, but got “legal documents” to claim free flats in the Malad SRA project.

The police have recorded the statements of 15 people and are likely to soon make arrests.

“The developer took construction benefits afforded to SRA schemes and it was sanctioned by the then CEO. This area was not a slum, but the developer got approval of the area as a slum,” said an EOW official. The directors of Omkar Developers, the then SRA CEO, the then deputy engineer, deputy tehsildar and deputy collector of Mumbai suburban and members of Janu Bhoy Nagar Society in Kurar village have been accused of cheating, forgery, furnishing false information, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.

In 2015, Malad resident Jaynarayan Tiwari filed an FIR with the Kurar police claiming that seven hutments, including his own, were encroached by the developers in 2007—each hutment was worth about Rs 2 crore. According to the FIR, in 1976, the slum improvement board CEO declared the area a slum through a notification. But in 1987, the Maharashtra Slum Area Tribunal issued an order saying it was no longer a slum. In 2007, Omkar Developers allegedly encroached on the land and the area committee asked them to redevelop the area knowing that it was not a slum. “The developer gave an application to the SRA for rehabilitation based on the 1976 order. The redevelopment was okayed for 8.03 lakh sq ft, while the original land was 3.52 lakh sq ft, and the developer got 3.28 FSI,” said the officer. “The government could have earned a premium of Rs 415 crore by selling this FSI.”

A representative of Omkar Developers said, “The complainants are not the legal heirs of the land. The claims were made in 1996, when the title of the land goes back to 1986. We have allotted 4,000 tenements to over 15,000 residents at Janu Bhoy over the years, where were the claimants then?”

The officer said, “We had earlier written to the developer asking them to provide documents about their claims. They didn’t send the papers. We have found 14 people who never stayed in the slums, but got documents to claim the flats.”